The past week has brought on or increased some odd symptoms. My fingertips on my right hand, and slightly on my left hand, have been experiencing some numbness. I've read that this is normal and caused by swelling and fluid retention around the nerve in the carpel tunnel. It goes away after the baby is born (thank goodness!). My upper and lower jaws have become slightly out of line so most of the time I can't bite down all the way. (my lower jaw has moved too far forward) This has happened to me before when I've gotten ear infections, but I'm not having any ear symptoms right now. I can line them back up if I sit with my elbow on the table and my chin resting on my hand for a while, but that's not a frequent set-up for me. My stomach is running out of room so I can't eat as much as I think I can anymore. I'm trying to eat smaller portions more frequently throughout the day. Hip pain is pretty much constantly there, and can get pretty excruciating at times. The drive to and from Maine this past weekend was pretty rough, requiring some creative seating in the car and frequent breaks. It was totally worth it though! Sleep patterns are becoming more erratic, which I guess is good practice. Yesterday I woke up at 5:45 and couldn't get back to sleep so I got up around 6:30. I got tired again around 8 and laid back down and fell asleep until 11:30!
The little guy is still very active. He's really enjoyed launching himself off my hips into my ribs. It's starting to get uncomfortable at times, but usually relieved by changing my position. He also had a good number of hiccup fits again this past week! They can really rock the belly, so he takes after Daddy in that regard. Jack gets pretty violent hiccups when he gets them.
We had our second childbirth prep class last night. We learned about the definite signs of labor, the maybe signs of labor, and the not-so-much signs of labor. We also saw a childbirth video. There was only one graphic moment and the instructor warned us of when it was coming. Jack said he was going to close his eyes - he doesn't even want to see that on me! He's going to be a shoulder birth-coach. Fine with me, as long as he's there! We did another relaxation exercise and I warned Jack not to poke me this time so as not to disrupt the others who are actually relaxing. I didn't really get much out of it - too sore laying on the ground. We're developing our own relaxation methods - mainly consisting of quoting our favorite TV shows. We finished off by learning a hand massage that felt WONDERFUL. Jack is a very good learner with these massages! Next week we should be getting an in-depth tour of the birth center provided there's a free room. We got the quick overview tour before when we attended the open house. It's crazy how much prep we go through for a 3-30 hour event! We also learned that's the range that's still considered a "normal" length for labor. Seems like we should get more prep for what happens AFTER. Oh well, I'm told it all comes naturally!
Took a while before a picture was taken that I didn't look like a PLANET in. I guess I've reached that point!
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